Shmuel Alef 6:10

10 And the anashim did so; and took two milch cows, and hitched them to the agalah, and penned up their calves babayit;

Shmuel Alef 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 6:10

And the men did so
Made a new cart, not the lords of the Philistines, but workmen by their orders:

and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart;
with the gear that horses, asses, or oxen, were usually fastened to a carriage they drew:

and shut up their calves at home;
or, "in the house" ^F19; the cow house or stable where they used to be put; this they did to restrain them from following the cows, which would disturb them in drawing the cart.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (tybb) "in domo", Pagninus, Montanus

Shmuel Alef 6:10 In-Context

8 And take the Aron Hashem, and lay it upon the agalah; and put the kelei hazahav, which ye send back to Him for an asham (trespass offering), in a box by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

9 And see: if it [the Aron Hashem] goeth up by the derech of its own territory [i.e., Eretz Yisroel] toward Beit Shemesh, then He hath done us this ra’ah hagedolah (great disaster); but if not, then we shall know that it is not His Yad that struck us; the evil came upon us mikreh (by chance, by accident).

10 And the anashim did so; and took two milch cows, and hitched them to the agalah, and penned up their calves babayit;

11 And they laid the Aron Hashem upon the agalah, and the box with the akhbarim of zahav and the tzalmei techorim (likenesses of tumors) of theirs.

12 And the cows took the straight derech to the derech Beit Shemesh, and went along the path, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the yamin or to the semol; and the rulers of the Pelishtim went after them as far as the border of Beit Shemesh.